On November 2nd, at the ARC Awards Gala in The Hague, the Netherlands, Martijn de Geus, assistant professor in the teaching and research series of Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture, received the ARC22 Young Talent Award, the award for Dutch Young Architect of the Year.

The ARC22 Young Talent Award has been established in 2010, and is awarded annually to a young architect. It is organized by ‘De Architect’, the Netherlands’ most renowned architectural journal.

The award is not recognizing a single project, but rather the combined contribution of an individual’s career to the broader architectural discourse. The award states that it “aims to identify the heroes of tomorrow.” The ARC Young Talent Award is presented to a promising designer aged up to 35 years . The award description says that a designer should distinguish him or herself through an innovative vision of the field, society and design, and an extraordinary contribution to the first phase of professional practice.

Martijn is the first young teacher in our school to win this type of individual, high-level international award.

After an initial shortlist of 5 nominees, a round of presentations was held earlier this year, in which the nominees presented their work and ideas to the jury. Following its deliberation, the jury rapport states that:

“Despite the strong competition and high quality of all the nominees, we unanimously select Martijn de Geus as the winner. Martijn has already taken quite the architectural journey; initially starting as a rebellious student and later establishing himself as a professional architect and accomplished academic.

His work displays a strong drive and passion, as he combines his design talent with life lessons, giving his projects and research an interesting personal touch. At another time he might have become a starchitect, but instead he now passionately devotes himself to social issues. He excels in every time.

Martijn De Geus is the winner of the ARC22 Young Talent Award thanks to his inspiring and impressive oeuvre.”

The jury of the award was chaired by former Dutch Chief Government Architect Liesbeth van der Pol, as well as experts from the field of architecture, landscape architecture and private development:

Liesbeth van der Pol     Jury Chair, Architect and former Dutch Chief Government Architect

Rico Zweers                  Developer at De Mannen van Schuim

Hanneke Kijne              Landschape Architect at MORE Landscape

Frank Loer                    Architect, winner of the ARC21 Young Talent Award

Afke Laarakker             Editor at De Architect

About Martijn de Geus

Martijn has been based in China since 2010 and is assistant professor and PhD supervisor track at Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture, where he’s also deputy director of the school’s English Program for Master in Architecture (EPMA).

Martijn finished his PhD and Master’s degree under prof. Li Xiaodong at Tsinghua University, after being trained as an architect at TU Delft in the Netherlands. He built his first building at age 19, after winning the ‘who comes after Rem Koolhaas’ competition in 2005.

His recent representative projects include the Tsinghua University Student Service Center Regeneration (2021),  Apenheul Primate Park ‘Food Forest’ in the Netherlands (2020), Zhangjiakou Village regeneration (2019), Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Museum design (2018), Courtyard Renovation at Baitasi (2018).